Almost Like Defeating Him
by lumixedia
Summary: Kylo and Hux figure out what it is they want from each other. Chapter 1 is set during the events of The Last Jedi; Chapters 2 and 3 are from some time later. All are short.
1. Long Live the Supreme Leader

Hux knew something was wrong before he entered the throne room. This was partly because of the obvious thing that was wrong, which was that their ship had recently started breaking apart. But it was more than that. Maybe it was the emptiness of the corridors near the throne room, as if people had decided to stay away so they couldn't get in trouble. Maybe it was the smell of the air. Or maybe it was a Ren thing. Even though Hux wasn't Force-sensitive, he sometimes imagined that he-that anyone, surely-could detect the energy of the petulant princeling stomping around the place. Probably it was all in his head. But still.

So when he opened the door to discover Snoke's bisected body before the throne, heaps of smoking red armor scattered all around, and a pile of black-clad Kylo Ren in the center, he understood the situation immediately. Time then passed in five discrete moments.

In the first moment, when he thought Ren might be dead, he felt a piercing horror and despair.

In the second moment, he was filled with disgust at himself. He hated Ren. How could he react to his death with anything but joy?

In the third moment, Ren's hand twitched, and Hux remembered that he had sworn to kill the princeling the moment the opportunity presented itself. He reached for his blaster.

In the fourth moment, Ren stirred, and Hux saw clearly the fork in the road ahead of him. He could pull his blaster out and shoot immediately, or he could do nothing. Either way, his decision would haunt him forever. At this point his traitorous hand refused to move, thus making the decision for him.

In the fifth moment, Ren woke up, and the opportunity was lost. Hux cursed himself.

"What happened?" he asked, sharply, automatically, the way he did everything.

"The girl murdered Snoke," Ren replied as he pushed himself up. He walked up to Hux. "What happened?"

It was not until the obvious lie spilled from Ren's mouth that Hux grasped the import of the truth. The idea that the scavenger girl had singlehandedly faced down Snoke, Ren, and a roomful of Snoke's personal guards was first of all impossible, and secondly if it were true, Ren would be ashamed, covering it up, not proclaiming it to the world with such ease. Ren had killed Snoke, or helped the scavenger kill him, or something of the nature-the details made no difference.

The realization filled Hux with pure fury. This stupid boy with his mystical powers and his temper tantrums, this boy who had never done a damn thing for the war effort yet had always been permitted to run wild around the First Order's nerve center for unclear reasons, this boy had beaten him again. He had seen his chance and taken it, he had created the same scene of carnage Hux had so frequently envisioned carrying out himself. And then, given his chance in turn, Hux had promptly failed the same test. It was unbearable.

The worst part was that he knew exactly what was coming next.

"She took Snoke's escape craft," he told Ren, feeling as if he were acting a part in a play. Nothing he said or did mattered anymore. Ren would blow all his work up and he'd be powerless to stop it.

"We know where she's going. Get all our forces down to that resistance base. Let's finish this." That was Ren, asserting command immediately like the entitled brat he was.

"Finish this? Who do you think you're talking to?" Hux retorted. He wasn't going down without a fight, even if it wouldn't be much of a fight. "You presumed to command my army?" He began counting up in his head. "Our Supreme Leader is dead! We have no ruler-"

And precisely on the count of three, he felt the brutal pressure on his windpipe. How could someone be so predictable yet so hard to outmaneuver?

"The Supreme Leader is dead-" Ren shouted.

"-Long live the Supreme Leader," Hux gasped as his vision swam. He thought his fury would burn him to a crisp.

Afterwards Hux felt like a disconnected mind riding along in an independently operating body. His hands gestured and his mouth barked orders while his brain spun dizzily along a short, unyielding loop of Kylo Ren thoughts.

 _Supreme Leader. Kylo Ren. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. Handsome. Whiny. Powerful. Irresponsible. Occasionally Brilliant. Always Ridiculous. Ren. Ren. Ren. My Supreme Leader Kylo Ren._

 _Could have killed him. Could have beaten him. He always beats me. Pathetically thoughtless and impulsive yet he always beats me. Doesn't even notice. Kylo Ren, my Supreme Leader Kylo Ren._

The loop was only broken when they finally arrived on Crait and he had to focus on the coming battle, which was a whole new house of horrors. At the beginning he swore to himself that he would hold his tongue and let Ren do whatever the hell he wanted. The stupid boy wouldn't listen to him anyway.

He managed it, briefly. He followed Ren's commands as they advanced on the fortress door and chased after the enemy's Falcon. He tried to grit his teeth while they spent a year's worth of ammunition on an old man standing still on the salt. But his patience, usually reasonably expansive, had been destroyed by the _Supreme Leader Kylo Ren_ chant in his brain. "That's enough," he finally hissed, because his anger hurt worse than Ren's Force-fingers on his throat. "That's _enough_!" When Ren didn't reply, he couldn't help adding, "Do you think you got him?"

They hadn't gotten him. Not that it would matter, if it weren't for _Kylo []-ing Ren_. "Bring me down to him," Ren demanded. "Keep the door covered and don't advance until I say."

Hux's anger warped a little at this, became something stranger and more uncomfortable. Ren in the middle of a mission step out from the safety of their shuttle to face Luke Skywalker alone? Among other problems with this, if Skywalker struck him down, Hux would never get the redemption of doing it himself. "Supreme Leader," he protested. He didn't mean the title to come out sounding so sincere. He didn't mean to feel a tiny shot of affection when he said it, as if from a twisted sort of pride. As if, if _somebody_ had to beat him, better for it to be Ren...no. Ridiculous. As ridiculous as the suspicion that any part of him genuinely hoped to guide Ren to do the right thing, to give up his childish tantrums and reach his full potential...if only to make him a worthier rival...when he continued, "Don't get distracted. Our goal-"

The floor fell away from him and the wall slammed into his back. Naturally.

He briefly considered just staying in the heap where Ren left him, but an irresistible sense of duty dragged him back to his feet to watch the duel. It occurred to him that Ren's misbehavior might be intentional. That he might be consciously or unconsciously procrastinating because he had confirmed that Leia Organa was alive and well and among the group of rebel survivors they were supposed to be hunting down. That they might have come here for nothing. It would be totally typical.

Then Skywalker became insubstantial and vanished into thin air, which seemed like a basically appropriate end to the whole surreal nightmare. Hux followed Ren into the (of course) empty cave, staring fixedly at him as if he might vanish too. He watched as the princeling knelt, picked up something, and froze. He went up to him and saw that his hand was perfectly empty.

Hux opened his mouth to say something nasty, but decided against it. He had studied Ren's moods, over the years, far more carefully than anyone sensible should, and he recognized this one. This was a Kylo Ren Thing. A Skywalker/Solo/Organa/whoever Thing. If he spoke now Ren wouldn't even hear him. Ren was, as of a few hours ago, the one and only and overwhelming difficulty in Hux's life, but Hux was barely a speck on the grand tapestry of Kylo Ren's Problems. That was the most infuriating thing about Ren, worse than the tantrums, the disrespect, the misdirected violence. He didn't pay Hux any damned attention. He never would. And it made Hux feel like insects were chewing through him from the inside.


	2. He Didn't Say It Right

Kylo had hoped that making Hux call him _Supreme Leader_ would make him feel stronger, but it really didn't. Possibly it made things worse.

Admittedly, this had become a whole pattern. Jedi training, Sith training, killing his father, killing Snoke-it seemed that always he was hoping to prove something to himself, and always he ended up proving the opposite. Still. This was supposed to be the pinnacle of it all-ruling the galaxy and making everyone, even the arrogant general with his nasty, perpetually judgmental face, acknowledge it. This was the moment he had always dreamed of, the test he had finally passed. So why did he still feel so weak?

The problem-or at least one problem-was that the situation didn't seem to affect Hux as much as it should have. Oh, sure, he was livid. A tornado of frustration and resentment blowing around the base. He was as superciliously professional in his work as always, but every order he gave seemed to fly from his mouth like a blaster bolt, seeking something or someone to destroy. But. But. But. It wasn't right. It wasn't enough. There was something else Kylo wanted that wasn't happening. What was it?

Hux said _Supreme Leader_ , but he didn't say it right. He said it matter-of-factly, like it was an incontrovertible new detail about the world, on par with the loss of a particularly expensive warship, infuriating perhaps yet at the same time not terribly meaningful. If he were to say it sarcastically, it would mean he was in denial. If he were to say it eagerly, obsequiously, it would mean he was impressed. But he had accepted Kylo's new role and there was no sign that he was impressed. Kylo had considered ransacking his mind to check, but he was too afraid of what he'd find.

It was _important_ that Hux be impressed. Why? Kylo couldn't entirely articulate an explanation. Something about his undeniable competence, the way he was too annoyingly useful to kill, the way he had long been the real backbone of the First Order's strength and well did he know it, regardless of his title or lack of Force-sensitivity or how strenuously both Kylo and Snoke would have insisted otherwise. Something about how it was hard to feel like you were ruling the galaxy when you couldn't even rule the space between your best general's ears. Or maybe just something about his hair.

At first Kylo tried to assert his new strength with physical force, but he gradually gave up on this after he began to suspect that Hux counted every time Kylo ended an argument by choking or throwing him as an intellectual victory. He then decided to stick (mostly) to taunting and berating Hux verbally. This worked much better. Hux was too self-serious to react to Kylo's insults with anything resembling grace or wit, and instead reliably became more and more upset until he was vibrating not only with anger but with something more potent, a strange buzzy tension that Kylo couldn't name but relished to behold.

Still, it wasn't enough. A piece was missing from the puzzle, a mysterious something had been left undone. Kylo paced around the base, stewing. If he didn't find that something soon, he was absolutely going to kill the general, backbone of the First Order's strength or not.


	3. The Flaw in Your Programming

"Everyone other than General Hux is dismissed."

Hux could feel the sigh of relief going around the conference room table. _I survived another meeting with the new Supreme Leader_ , they were all thinking. Technically, Ren hadn't actually killed or even seriously injured anyone in a meeting yet, which was really surprising if you thought about it, but it was only a matter of time. Hux remained in his seat, staring straight ahead and trying to take deep, calming breaths, while the others removed themselves from the room with almost supernatural efficiency, slamming the door behind the last of them like a quarantine lock. He had no idea what Ren wanted this time, which made his situation even more dangerous than usual.

Ren got up from his seat at the head of the table and moved around to take the one directly in front of Hux. Hux continued not to meet his eyes.

"General," Ren snapped, as he always did at this point, "look at me."

As he always did at this point, Hux obeyed. It had become incredibly difficult, meeting Ren's eyes. Every time he did, he felt a pulse of jealousy and desperation so fierce it made him ill.

"General," Ren said, "I've decided to designate you as my successor in case anything happens to me."

This was so unlike the sort of thing that normally came out of Ren's mouth in Hux's direction that Hux took several seconds to parse the sentence, then several more seconds trying to remember how one went about speaking to Ren when he was not insulting you. Finally he settled for "I would have considered the throne mine anyway."

"Yes, but you, unlike me, cannot protect your claim with the Force. I thought an official decree might be beneficial to the stability of the First Order."

Hux stared. "That...is very forward-thinking of you, Supreme Leader." _Who are you and what have you done with-_

"I am Kylo Ren," Ren interrupted the unspoken jibe, "and I'm tired of you underestimating me, General."

Underestimate Ren, indeed. Something was definitely wrong. A vine of fear began to wind around Hux's stomach. "But...why now?"

"Better late than never."

Liar. Liar liar liar. "You-are you thinking about running off and doing something stupid and dangerous? Is that what this is? Another duel with Luke Skywalker?"

"Luke Skywalker is dead," Ren said irritably, "and don't question my plans, _General_." Which was not a denial.

Hux stood up. "The scavenger, then," he hissed. "You've figured out where she is and now you want to run off and confront her alone? To prove a point?"

The air grabbed Hux by the throat and yanked him up and forward, bashing his knees into the edge of the conference table. "I _said_. Don't. Question. My. Plans." Ren said as he got to his feet. He yanked Hux further, sliding him over the table and dumping him onto the ground in front of him. "And no, I haven't tracked her down yet."

"But you will." Hux barely noticed the pain in his knees and throat, or the fact that starting a fight with the Supreme Leader over the latter giving him a promotion was surely the most irrational thing he had ever done in his life. He was panicking. "And this-this is your plan, when you do-" He tried to get to his feet, but he was shaking too much. This was much worse than Luke Skywalker. This was-

"This is the only way. I've come to see that. She is a symbol. If I merely defeat her with overwhelming force, she will become a martyr." Ren stared down at Hux, looking confused. "Why are you objecting? It only benefits you if I don't return. This is very unlike you. Did you pick up a brain parasite on Canto Bight?"

Why _was_ he objecting? Because he was afraid of-of-"it does _not_ benefit...the stability of the First Order...you could destroy everything..."- _especially if she_ influences _you, and we all know how prone you are to_ influences-

"You are underestimating me again." Ren yanked Hux to his feet with an invisible hand and stared into his eyes, causing another pulse of desperation to go through him. "You are also-lying- _oh!_ " Ren's own eyes widened. He seemed to have had an epiphany.

"What?" Hux sputtered. He grabbed at the back of a chair for support. Ren was acting as if he had seen something incriminating in the waves of emotion roiling behind Hux's eyes, even though they had become too wild and complex for Hux himself to distinguish them.

A look of exultation came over Ren's face.

" _What?_ "

Ren kissed him.

 _Oh._

 _Everything makes sense now._

Kissing Kylo Ren was like drawing the first lungful of air after being released from a Force-choking. Kissing Kylo Ren was like finally shooting down a fighter that had pursued your ship relentlessly when you were almost out of fuel. Kissing Kylo Ren was like bringing down the New Republic after decades of seemingly futile struggle and sacrifice.

Kissing Kylo Ren was almost like defeating him.

When they broke apart, Ren was shaking too. "Arrogant general," he murmured. "All the time I've spent looking for your weakness...the flaw in your programming...I never imagined..."

"That was a foolish thing to do," Hux whispered, "after everything Snoke said about using weaknesses as weapons." His eyes narrowed. He grabbed Ren by the shoulders. "You. Will NOT _._ Run off and endanger yourself unnecessarily at the enemy's hands before I make up my mind about whether I want you dead. Or else."

Ren sighed. "If you say so, General." He pulled Hux toward him. _This will not go well_ , Hux thought, before he stopped thinking about anything other than Kylo Ren's skin.


End file.
